


Shifting Gears

by MegGuyver



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-22
Updated: 2018-06-22
Packaged: 2019-05-26 20:13:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15008555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MegGuyver/pseuds/MegGuyver
Summary: How I think things might have gone after the Serpent Dance and the Bughead breakup.





	Shifting Gears

Betty was left heartbroken as Jughead ended their relationship and walked away. Alice came out of the Wyrm and while she tried to offer some comfort, her own anger at Betty kept her from being able to offer much. The disappointment and anger was palpable in the air while silence filled the car.   
As they drove home Betty started to compose herself and think. Had she really done the serpent dance just for Jughead? Just so that she could be part of his world? The more she thought on it, the more she realized that no she hadn’t. She felt powerful standing on that stage with so many eyes on her. She felt peace and an inner quiet that she hadn’t even known she was capable of having. So often her life felt out of her control, Alice telling her what to do, Jughead trying to protect her, Archie and Veronica placing her in a box an acting as if any step she took outside that box was the end of the world. She didn’t want that life anymore.  
As she stripped down to the black lingerie she had been in earlier that night she felt some of that power come back to her. When she crawled into bed, she had one thought running through her mind. I want to feel that way again.  
When Betty woke the next morning she stretched and then laid in bed enjoying the light coming through her window. Thinking that in the harsh light of day her decisions might change, she spent some time going over the night before in her head. She had done the serpent dance last night, was there more to the initiation into the Serpents than that? She wasn’t sure, she should have found out before deciding to do the dance. Even with that in mind, she decided that she didn’t regret the dance. She didn’t even regret that Jughead had broken up with her, though that did leave her sad, she still loved him, but could they really come back from this?   
Deciding that she was going to have to get up and face the wrath of Alice Cooper sometime Betty rolled over and picked up her phone to check the time. When she noticed a text from a number she didn’t recognize she thought it was odd, everyone that would have a reason to be texting her should have already been programmed into her phone. Swiping open the message she was first confused, but then a smile broke out on her face.  
“Come see me in my office at the Wyrm when you have a few minutes to talk -FP”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FP rubbed his eyes as he watched Jughead walk back into the bar looking both angry and heartbroken. He would need to talk with him later tonight. While he understood why he might be upset that Betty had done the serpent dance, it was no excuse for making rash decisions. Looking down the bar and seeing Alice still sitting here he walked over and took the stool next to her.   
“I know it’s not what you wanted for her Ali” Alice turned and looked at him, with a look in her eye that he could decipher. “If I hold too tight I’m going to lose her aren’t I?” FP just shook his head and sighed. “Who am I to give parenting advice? I haven’t been such a great one.” Nodding his head in Jugheads direction so Alice would look over “It looks like maybe we both have heartbroken teenagers on our hands.” Alice turned back and gave him an assessing look. “You might not have been the greatest parent to Jughead, but maybe you can been the leader that he needs, the Serpent King we all need.” With that she got up and walked out of the bar leaving FP to think about what she said.  
FP got up and went down the hallway beside the bar. Few people knew that there was a back staircase here leading up to a second floor. Up there he had an office and a small studio apartment that he kept for himself or occasionally others that needed it. Currently the apartment was being occupied by one of his teenaged Serpents. Toni had no parents to speak of, and when her grandfather had gotten sick and needed to go into a home, rather than let her go into the system or go homeless he let her move into the Wyrm. She tended bar occasionally, he couldn’t really pay her much, but she kept all her tips and that was enough to make sure that she could survive until they could find a more permanent solution for her.   
He unlocked the door that only he and Toni had keys for, and made his way upstairs to his office. Once there, he sat and thought about the evening. Betty doing the dance was unexpected, but when he looked up at her on the stage, it was like he was seeing a different Betty than the one that he had known and seen so often with Jug. She looked satisfied and proud, and when he wrapped her in his jacket to get her off the stage, she hugged the jacket to her and sighed, looking more content that anyone really had a right to look wearing nothing but their underwear and a leather jacket standing in the middle of a bar.   
With a thoughtful look on his face FP decided that she had done the dance, if she learned their laws and was willing to live by them, she would have a place with the Serpents. He is sure that her mother and his son wouldn’t be happy with his decision, but at the end of the day, it is her life, not theirs. With that thought in mind he shot off a text to Toni telling her that he was sleeping in the office tonight so she would know he was here. He also looked down at the number that he had for Betty. Might as well talk to her sooner rather than later he thought to himself. “Come see me in my office at the Wyrm when you have a few minutes to talk -FP” he hit send and then decided crash for a few hours. Who knew when Betty might decide to show up, if she showed up at all.


End file.
